Building With PET Bottles

Though recycled plastic has proven to be an incredibly strong and durable building block that’s used in structures from military bridges to deck lumber, empty PET bottles may not be what come to mind when thinking of ideal construction materials. But that hasn’t stopped some creative and resourceful individuals from using them.

Man-Made Floating Island

In 1998, British carpenter Richard Sowa began construction of an artificial island in a lagoon near Puerto Aventuras, Mexico. Sowa began collecting empty and discarded plastic bottles, bundling them together in nets and using them to support a plywood and bamboo structure known as a Spiral Island.

The island floated on more than 250,000 bottles. The bottles supported the 66-foot by 54-foot structure, which included a two-story house, solar-powered oven, self-composting toilet, three sand beaches, mangroves and other plant life. Though the island was destroyed in 2005′s Hurricane Emily (it washed on to the neighboring beach almost completely intact), the concept flourished, leading to the building of Spiral Island II in a lagoon off Isla Mujeres, Mexico, where shelter from hurricanes is offered.

Sea-Worthy Vessel

If empty plastic bottles can be used to support a man-made island, then it seems plausible that they could lend the same principles of flotation and support to a boat. That’s precisely what David de Rothschild, heir to one of the largest banking fortunes, is working to achieve with the design of his 60-foot catamaran, the ‘Plastiki.’

Made of approximately 12,000 reclaimed two-liter plastic soda bottles, the sailboat is scheduled to depart from San Francisco in late 2009 and travel 10,000 nautical miles across the Pacific to Sydney. The bottles were stress tested to ensure their strength under pressure, proving they could hold up even when ran over by a car!

Art and Design

Creative artists have long been crafting works of art using everything from glass to bottle caps, proving that some of the most interesting and creative pieces can be born from one of the simplest and most abundant of materials: garbage. Plastic bottles have joined this trash art lineup in full force, making a statement as to their reuse potential and abundance.

As featured by Recyclart, 2007 Follydock IFCR entry, the ‘Temple of Trash,’ was constructed by the SALZIG Design Team using 100 tons of pressed PET bottle bales. The temple was the runner-up at the Follydock International Ideas competition, which encourages design that stretches the boundaries of fantasy and reality.

This article is a part of Earth911.com’s Building With series.